AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Up 7.2% – Still a Buy?

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)’s share price shot up 7.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $427.18 and last traded at $421.5970. 5,546,747 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 6,889,060 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.22.

Key Stories Impacting AppLovin

Here are the key news stories impacting AppLovin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat / Altimetry argues AppLovin’s data moat and AI optimization leave it mispriced after a sharp drop; they see durable earnings growth potential versus current market fear. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers, 2 Experts Explain (APP)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish — several broker notes keep Buy ratings even after model/valuation adjustments, signaling institutional confidence that recent weakness may be sentiment-driven rather than structural. Analysts Remain Bullish on AppLovin Corporation (APP) Despite Target Cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Short-term buying interest has shown up in headlines describing intraday surges, indicating episodic demand that can create bounce opportunities for traders. AppLovin Stock Surges Wednesday: What’s Driving The Action?
• Neutral Sentiment: Raymond James notes a developing tradeable bounce across software names as the group attempts to stabilise at technical support—this helps explain cross-stock flows impacting APP. Tradeable bounce is developing in software stocks, Raymond James says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces from Zacks and Forbes are driving attention/volume but don’t deliver new company-specific catalysts; they can amplify trading but aren’t decisive fundamentals. Is Trending Stock AppLovin Corporation (APP) a Buy Now? AppLovin Vs. Synopsys: Which Software Stock Is The Better Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector context: coverage noting multiple tech names down sharply year‑to‑date helps explain broad selling pressure rather than APP‑specific insolvency. Wall Street Sees Major Upside in These 4 Beaten-Down Tech Stocks — Is the Selloff Overdone?
• Negative Sentiment: Price-target trims (e.g., BofA cutting its APP target from $780 to $705) reduce near-term upside expectations and can pressure sentiment even when ratings remain Buy. Analysts Remain Bullish on AppLovin Corporation (APP) Despite Target Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: AI‑narrative fear—headlines about “vibe‑coded” AI ad platforms—has driven indiscriminate selling; that sentiment swing is the clearest near‑term driver of today’s decline. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers, 2 Experts Explain (APP)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports in these feeds show contradictory/invalid values (0 shares / NaN); treat those data items as unreliable until corrected—no clear short‑squeeze signal.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on APP. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $465.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AppLovin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research cut AppLovin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AppLovin from $425.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $651.77.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $146.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.59, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 3.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $539.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $570.75.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. AppLovin had a return on equity of 245.64% and a net margin of 57.42%.AppLovin’s revenue was up 66.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In related news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 7,609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $657.13, for a total value of $5,000,102.17. Following the sale, the insider owned 277,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,097,294.30. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $693.32, for a total value of $103,998.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,829 shares in the company, valued at $1,961,402.28. The trade was a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AppLovin by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Company Profile

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.